Shrines
by Sensaiman
Summary: Summary: Don't let the long prelude fool you; the story is a Future fiction about life and love 10 years from now.


Shrines

BY

Sensaiman

A Castle Fanfiction

_**Summary: Don't let the long prelude fool you; the story is a Future fiction about life and love 10 years from now.**_

_**Disclaimer: All Castle related characters belong to Andrew Marlowe and .**_

Then: June: 2011

Castle opened the door to the Loft and beckoned her in.

"Coffee or a little wine?" he asked.

"Coffee would be great", Kate said, sitting on the couch.

While Castle busied himself in the kitchen, she had time to reflect on how they had gotten here.

It had been a wild four months since the day Castle, in his own inimitable fashion had saved New York, and her by pulling out every single wire on the "dirty" bomb. Together they had solved several cases [_including one on the West coast_], gone through her inevitable break up with Dr. Motorcycle Boy [_In the end Josh had felt saving the world was more important than saving them_], and now they were here in his loft. They hadn't really started dating after Josh left, but at the same time the really weren't exactly not dating either. In fact Kate wasn't truly sure what they were doing. It had become sort of natural for she and Castle to go to dinner or to the movies after work, or to go out to brunch with Martha and Alexis on Sundays, and even though they had definitely been growing closer, they were not officially a couple, but by the same token they weren't "not" a couple either _[lately whenever they walked somewhere, not work related, their hands automatically intertwined, there were a lot more hugs, and usually an evening together ended with a brief, but oh so sweet, kiss_]; one of the reasons Kate had asked Castle to go to the Angelica with her tonight was in the hopes that he would invite her back to the Loft, and they could finally talk about what exactly was going on with them.

"Coffee's ready", he called from the kitchen.

"Great", Kate said.

He came into the living room carrying a tray with coffee and all the "fixings"

As she looked at the tray, Kate had to smile; sitting next to her cup was a small plate piled high with her favorite Mint Milano cookies. [_No question about, Richard Castle was officially the sweetest guy in the world_]

This further reminder of his thoughtfulness and care for her fueled her desire to find out what was going on between them.

He had barely gotten seated when she asked **THE** question.

"Castle, what are we doing here?"

"Huh, we're having coffee". He joked lamely.

"No, what is going on with us."

"What do you want to be going on with us?" he asked.

"I'm not sure", she answered, "What do you want?"

"Do you really want to know? Or are you to scared of the truth."

"I'm not scared of anything", she lied, "tell me!"

""Okay you asked for it. Here's what I want, Kate. I want us to be friends, partners, lovers, boyfriend/girlfriend, fiancés, husband and wife, mother and father of our children, and finally doting grandparents. In other words, baby, I want it all."

She sat there for a moment not answering.

"And now, you can run if you want to", Castle said.

And run she did, but not towards the door, she ran into his office.

Shutting the door behind her, Kate sat in his chair, his words racing through her mind. She had asked him what he wanted and he had certainly told her. Now what?

As an excuse to keep from answering that question to herself, Kate began to look at the pictures on the office walls. She had seen his office before, but this was the first time she had ever been in here alone.

It only took her one glance to realize that this first wall was a Shrine to Alexis. At least twenty pictures of the beautiful redhead were posted there. She smiled at the first one. An impossibly young Castle was holding a tiny infant in his arms; already wisps of red hair sprouting from that adorable little head. Another picture showed a two or three year old Alexis with both hands plunged into a birthday cake. A little bit older Alexis smiled at her from the back of a pony in Central Park Alexis building a sand castle in the Hamptons; Alexis, the Girl Scout, holding up her merit badge sash. Kate followed the growth of the girl through pictures until she came to the latest, Alexis in a formal gown holding her beloved violin in front of her; she remembered when this picture was taken, The Castles had insisted that she come with them to Alexis' holiday concert.

As she studied the pictures of his daughter, Kate was reminded again of what a wonderful father, Rick [_Rick? Yeah Rick_] was; what a wonderful father he would be to her children too. That thought so shocked her that she quickly turned her attention to the pictures on the next wall.

If the first wall had had a common denominator, Alexis, this wall did too; only in these pictures it wasn't a beautiful red head; it was beautiful green-eyed brunette. It only took her two pictures to realize that this was a Shrine in the making, a Shrine to her. There weren't as many pictures on this one as ther were on the Alexis Shrine, but Kate was in every one of them. In one, which must have been taken at the precinct, she was conferring with Ryan and Esposito; in another she was sitting on the edge of her desk staring at the murder board. The one of her biting into her burger at Remy's must have been taken one day when Castle had come out of the men's room. Two of the pictures had been taken at the Old Haunt. One was a group shot of the gang from the 12th. She remembered Jenny had taken that one. It was the second Haunt picture that stopped her breath and sent her world spinning around. In the picture she and Rick were looking at each other, they were smiling, but that was not what shocked her; it was the looks in their eyes. After what he had said in the living room, she wasn't surprised by the look of absolute love and devotion she saw in his eyes, it was that her eyes echoed that look. So this is what everyone from Lainie on down to Agent Fallon saw when she and Rick looked at each other. No wonder everyone thought they belonged together. The fact is, as the picture clearly showed, they did. Looking at that picture, Kate finally felt what she had wanted to feel for so long; all the walls falling, all the doubts evaporating; all her fears dissolving.

When Kate Beckett opened the office door, she was a woman completely, totally, irrevocably in love. She stood in the doorway and looked at her adored object.

He hadn't moved an inch from where he had been sitting when she ran into the office. His head was in his hands, and she just knew that he was terrified that what he had said would drive her away forever.

She walked over to the, couch, sat, reached up and took one of his hands into hers.

"Rick". The use of his first name caused him to turn and look at her, "you've told me what you want, now let me tell you what I want"

And with that, Kate Beckett began to sing to him softly:

_I want to be your lover_

_I want to be your friend_

_And I want to be your full-time woman_

_Closer than your kin_

_I want to be your satisfaction_

_Be your number one_

_And just when you think I can't love you any better_

_Well, I have just begun_

When she had finished, she smiled at him and asked, "Does that answer your question?"

He didn't respond in words, he simply put his arms around her, pulled her close, and kissed her deeply.

She responded immediately and joyously.

They stopped only long enough to stand up, and then Rick looked towards his room. Kate didn't even hesitate; she took his hand in hers, smiled and led him to the bedroom.

Now: August, 2021

"And that's how it happened", Kate Castle thought, "that's how a picture led us to this day."

She was sitting in the office in their Loft remembering that night 10 years ago when everything had changed. They had gone from friends and partners to lovers that night. Gone from boyfriend/girlfriend to fiancés within a month. Three months later they had become husband and wife. The twins Johanna and Maddison [_better known as JoJo and Maddie_] had been born a year and a half later. And today, hopefully, the last step in Rick's "I want it all" would come true. The Family had been waiting for over a week for Alexis to go into labor, and this morning Kate had awakened with a strange feeling that today might be the day.

She had sat up in bed, looked at her husband sleeping peacefully beside her, slipped on slippers and robe, and crossed to the office. Like everything else, the Loft, the house in the Hamptons, the condo in L.A., the office had gone from his to theirs almost from their first night together. Rick loved sharing things with her, and she loved letting him. The office was a perfect example, once she had moved in, he had searched every antique and furniture store on the eastern seaboard until he had found the perfect partners desk. When they used the office together she would sit on her side of the desk, but often when she went the office alone, especially as her "thinking" place, she loved to sit in his chair. Sitting there, she remembered back to that night, ten years ago, when she had sat and looked at the Shrines on the wall. The Alexis Shrine was still there, as was the one that she had come to think of as the Courting Shrine, the pictures of Rick and her as a courting couple had been added to the ones from the precinct and the Haunt. She looked from those two walls to the third one. This was the one she called the Family Shrine, and it was still growing. Before she took in at the collection of family photos, she looked at the two pictures, mounted side by side, between the Courting and the Family Shrines. These two served as a kind of transition from on state to another. The two pictures were almost identical with one difference, they had the same to participants but their roles were different in each picture. In the first picture and ecstatic Alexis, radiant in a long light green "maid of honour" gown, was helping an even more radiant and ecstatic Kate, in long white bridal gown, make the last few adjustments to her veil. In the second, an ecstatic Kate in a pale pink, "mother of the bride" dress, was helping an even more radiant and ecstatic Alexis, in the same white long white bridal gown _[Alexis had insisted on being married in her "mother's" dress_] make the last few adjustments to her veil.

She was moving her eyes to look at the Family Shrine, when the phone rang.

"Hello". She had grabbed the phone after the second ring, "Ash. How is she… really? We'll be there as soon as we can. Okay, honey, oh and Ash keep breathing okay."

Kate quickly dialed a number, "Lainie, its me, this is it. How soon can you and Javier get here? Good, but please hurry."

She hadn't even hung up, before she started yelling, "Rick".

By the time she reached the bedroom, her "one and done" was already up and pulling on his pants.

"Is it time?" he cried.

"Yes, baby, our little girl is about to become a mommy", She had said.

From the noises coming from the girl's room, apparently her husband was not the only one who had been awakened by her shout.

"Honey, grab my jeans and a sweatshirt", she had said, and went into the twin's room.

JoJo and Maddie were both sitting up in their beds looking a little frightened.

"Mommy, is everything okay", Maddie called.

"Yeah", said JoJo, what's up?"

"Ashley just called", Kate, said, "it looks like your niece is ready to meet you."  
>Both girls shouted, "Hurray"<p>

"Is Lexy, Okay?' Maddie asked.

"I'm sure she is, sweetie. Auntie Ell and Uncle Jay are coming to stay with you while Daddy and I go meet little …", and then she stopped, in her excitement she had forgotten that no one had told her the name Alexis and Ashley had picked out. In fact they had rather pointedly not told her the name. She had a pretty good idea that everyone else knew, but not her.

Looking at her two daughter's expressions, she thought that even they knew.

If she was honest with herself, this hurt a little. From the day Rick and she had become a couple, actually even before they had become a couple, she and Alexis had been like mother and daughter, Alexis had never made her feel like a stepmother, until now.

The knocking on the door waked Kate from this unpleasant revere.

"That's Auntie Ell and Uncle Jay, be good kids."  
>"We will Mommy", said Maddie.<p>

"Kiss Lexy, and Little K…" JoJo had almost said, but Maddie poked her, "Uhm, our little niece for us",

"Okay, gotta go. Love you"

Kate was known for driving ther Jaguar at top speed, but she out did herself that morning. To Rick it seemed like they had barely gotten their seat belts on and then the car was pulling into the parking lot at the hospital.

It only took them a couple of minutes to reach the maternity ward.

Rick immediately began pacing.

"Honey, relax, this is Alexis's first one it may take awhile", Kate had said.

As it tuned out it actually didn't. Within an hour, Dr. Reynolds had come out to announce, "You have new granddaughter, Mr. and Mrs. Castle.

"How soon can we see her?" Rick asked.

"No time like the present. Go on in."

Hand in hand, Grandma and Grandpa Castle walked into their daughter's room.

The first thing they saw was a tired, but ecstatic Ashley. The last time Kate had seen him grin so much was when the Minster had introduced _["For the very first time"_] Mr. and Mrs. Ashley and Alexis Edwards.

"Hey, Mom, Hey Dad", a joyously exhausted voice called from the bed.

They turned and looked at their daughter. Bundled in Alexis's arms was the most beautiful little girl either of them had ever seen.

"Mom, Dad, I'd like to introduce you to your granddaughter, Katherine Martha Edwards."

The moment she head the name Kate broke down in tears.

"Katie", Alexis said to her new daughter, "you see that lady crying over there. That's your Grandmother. Let me tell you something about her. She's going to be the best grandma of all time. You know how I know, because she's the best Mom too."

Kate looked up just in time to see Rick snap a picture of their daughter and granddaughter. She smiled as she thought of the new pictures they would put up on the Family Shrine tonight.

_I'm not sure I'm happy with this one. There are some things I like but I think I could have told it better._

_I hope all of you Browncoats caught the __FF __reference._

_Let me know what you think. _

_S._


End file.
